May 31, 2011

An Egyptian businessman by the name of Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar, 74, is the new Dominique Strauss-Kahn: the former head of the Bank of Alexandria was accused Monday of locking a hotel maid in his room, then grabbing, groping and grinding on her. The alleged attack took place Sunday at The Pierre on East 61 St. in a $900-a-night room. Whether it’s a copycat crime, a coincidence or a frequent occurrence only now being given attention, it’s heinous. NYPD detectives have “found the complaint to be credible.”

The New York Daily News reports that Omar, currently the chairman of salt company El-Mex Salines Co., asked for tissues from downstairs and came to the door in pajamas. He locked the door as the maid moved toward a table. “He grabbed her breasts, groped her,” said an NYPD source. “He was grinding against her.”

“I’m not up here for that,” the maid reportedly told him. Then he had the decency to ask for her number. She made one up and ran to report the incident.

Omar was charged Monday with sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching and harassment. And of course he already has his defenders: “He’s an old man,” said a friend. “He’s a good man and also a grandfather.”

Meanwhile, Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the IMF, is 62-years-old and under house arrest for very similar offenses. Ew, all around.